I've spent the last week polishing all my window trim and so far so good. I'm happy with all the pieces but the upper windshield piece. it has some small dings. I have about 6 of them in various condition so I practiced my ding removal skills on some rougher pieces. RESULTS.....not good.

SO...... my question is does anyone do this professionally ??? I wouldnt mind sending one or two out to be repaired.

Thanks for any leads/info.......





bob

it is too easy to NOT do yourself. There are tools for doing this, but I have never owned them. I seem to always be able to find something that will work. Small screw driver plastic ends you can use to rub out on the back side. Some light tapping also. You are just trying to get the metal back or a tiny bit too far out. Sanding will make it flat and get rid of the imperfections, then polish again.
Small dents are also the EASIEST.

But, if you really don't want to do it, there are companies that will do it for you. Look with stainless as your key word and it will come up.

Bob, I have been polishing stainless too. Using a small piece of wood to bang them out, then sanding in increasing grits to 2000. Not perfect, but fine for my driver. Over on yenko.net, they talk about this place http://www.glmetalpolishing.com/ which is in Jackson, NJ, but I have not personally contacted him. Luck!

What I have done and was shown from a buddy you need a flat pick hammer and a pointed pick hammer.A rag over a piece of wood pick the dents out so they protrude out just a little then you take a fine file, file them flat then go to 80 grit 220 320 600 1000 1500 then polish.This is the steps I took and had good results if you have any question don't hesitate to ask....

Find a metal polishing shop. They can repair and polish then for you.

it is too easy to NOT do yourself.


WELL..... I'm not to sure about that :D I figure 25 years in the autobody business should be good for something :clonk: I took a dinged up piece today and hammered all the dings out with a small piece of wood on a sand bag, then hit it with a small file, then some 220,500,1000 and 1500 and then hit the old Baldor. The results are absolutely amazing !!!! It looks near perfect :confused: Granted it took me almost 2 hrs but its definitely super nice.


Little dings are fairly easy but its the big low spots that I'm tryin next, and a bit worried about. At this rate..... I have enough old mouldings to keep me busy till about 2014 :thumbsup:


Thanks for all the info guys...............


pics to follow.........




bob

I had to tap out a few minor dings in mine, and then filed/sanded/polished with a 6" wheel on a grinder, until I thought they looked great.

Then I saw some REALLY nice ones, and spent 10-12 hours on a set of professional polishers and now mine are REALLY nice.

Bottom line, don't expect professional results on amateur equipment. I traded the guy a new set of wheels and jewelers rouge (cost me about $80) in exchange for use of his equipment.

Don't know how long the look will last. John Z recommends that you have them flash chromed (or similar terminology) like the factory did, for long lasting shine.

If you have 25 years in the auto body business, promise this will be one of the easier things you do on the car. Not the least amount of time, but again one of the easiest and most satisfying. I never use below 400. I have found that it makes you spend, in the long run, even more time on them. I use 400, but try to avoid it. When you get to the final polishing, if you have not been very careful about moving up the ladder of sandpaper, you find that these tiny annoying spots are part of that early sanding (even if you have been careful LOL!), even when you get experienced. (Was that a real sentance?) You can still get rid of these spots, but they require you doing more work somewhere along the line. Hope that helps.

Put duct tape on nuts that hold on wheels and anything else that you can slip off and hit the stainless against. If you don't, you will create more work also. Too many guys will back me up on that one. Good luck!!

If you don't mind spending the money, the companies that do it usually do it very nicely.
I did not want to spend the time and I did not want to send these pieces out either. I guess we never want to spend the money, but usually do. Keep in mind how much it will cost to replace them it you damage them, or they get lost in the mail. I am sure someone has even had them damaged at a shop. It ended up being a great learning experience for my son and something we worked on together a lot.

Hi Gary!
When will your car be done? Looked like it was going pretty fast.

Bob,
Heres the info on the guy I used to do all my trim. My trim came out great and I sent him some really crummy looking pieces. If I remember tomorrow I'll bring my window tirm over so you can take a closer look.


D & T Metal Polishing Inc.
5748 Birch Dr
Caseville, MI 48725
Cell 989-551-1520 info@dntpolishing.com


I've spent the last week polishing all my window trim and so far so good. I'm happy with all the pieces but the upper windshield piece. it has some small dings. I have about 6 of them in various condition so I practiced my ding removal skills on some rougher pieces. RESULTS.....not good.

SO...... my question is does anyone do this professionally ??? I wouldnt mind sending one or two out to be repaired.

Thanks for any leads/info.......





bob

Also on another note when you get to the 220 or 400 stage sand the whole molding to get any fine scratches out this will require a little more work but will make a nicer job...

Thanks for all the GREAT info guys, :beers:

I practiced a little more today and realized its all about the prep. The actual ding removal is easy but its getting rid of ALL the fine little imperfections that take a ton of time. Today I went right up the grit latter being very careful to remove all the previous grits scratches. I finished up with 2000 grit and barely even had to polish it !!!! This is very addicting !!! Bottom line...... I cant devote 3 weeks of labor on 8 pieces of trim to make them perfect, instead...... I'll spend a few days and make them better than any mouldings I've ever had before :beers:

My 1/3 hp Baldor is doin the job but I can see a 3/4 hp would be much, much better/quicker.




Thanks again for all the help.......




bob

I bought a Craftsman Buffer and used two different buffing wheels rougue,it get a liitle stattic electricity and shocks you but does a nice job...

I got a quote locally on having mine done after I got them "pretty good". Guy wanted $20/foot, whether they were dinged and scratched, or "pretty good". That's not what he told me on the phone, but only after I drove an hour to show him the pieces.

With windshield, back glass, and drip rail, it was around $1000...can't remember exactly,as I was hot that the guy mislead me, and actually thought I was going to give him the business anyway!

I got a quote locally on having mine done after I got them "pretty good". Guy wanted $20/foot, whether they were dinged and scratched, or "pretty good". That's not what he told me on the phone, but only after I drove an hour to show him the pieces.

With windshield, back glass, and drip rail, it was around $1000...can't remember exactly,as I was hot that the guy mislead me, and actually thought I was going to give him the business anyway!

Why not,he sounds like he would have done a nice job "not".So did you end up doing them you self.

Bob,

That is exactly right. Do the sand paper right (wet sand) and way less time at buffing wheel. Sanding is way faster than the buffing wheel. If you are getting rid of scratches on the buffing wheel, thay would have gone way faster sanding.

TIP: 1) After you get all done, clean the piece with laquer thinner. Not as important as the next step.
Then clean/polish with Meguire's All Metal NXT Polish! I call it more cleaning then polishing because the piece is already polished. After you use it you will thank me. There are other products that do the same thing, but this is a good one. You can get it even at Ace Hardware. I will have you post what it did that was so good. "We have everyone wondering right now!!!"

TIP: 2) Now go to you local Office Max and ask them where their Hand Held Rolls of Plastic are? (They are suran rap with 1,000,000 feet, OK a little exageration!) If everyone does not have one of these, they are great. All the pieces you want to protect you can wrap in this. It is very cheap and lasts forever. If you don't, you will be polishing the pieces again while you have the "setting in your garage." LOL!

See post #7, above.

http://www.glmetalpolishing.com/

he is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!